At least half of Parkinson's disease patients experience psychosis at some point during the course of their illness, and physicians commonly prescribe antipsychotic drugs, such as quetiapine, to treat the condition. However, ...

A majority of Medicaid-insured youth are not receiving psychosocial services before initiating antipsychotic treatment, according to a multi-state study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent ...

Researchers have identified three risk factors that make adults with mental illness more likely to engage in violent behavior. The findings give mental health professionals and others working with adults with mental illness ...

New research from the University of Otago, Wellington, and Capital and Coast Health District Health Board (CCDHB) shows that the antipsychotic drug clozapine dramatically slows bowel function. Rarely, this can lead to serious ...

(HealthDay)—Clozapine reduces symptoms in patients with schizophrenia who don't benefit from other antipsychotic medications, according to research published online Nov. 6 in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Although adults with serious psychiatric disorders are at high risk for diabetes, a large study led by UC San Francisco reveals that low-income patients on Medicaid are rarely screened for it. The findings support growing ...

Despite known risks of serious side effects, especially in older adults, the fraction of seniors treated with antipsychotic medications increases with age, researchers have found. Such medications may be appropriate for treating ...

Antipsychotic drugs are initiated in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) more frequently than in the general population - already 2-3 years before the Alzheimer's diagnosis, according to a new study from the University ...

(HealthDay)—Aristada (aripiprazole lauroxil) extended release injection has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat the disabling brain disorder schizophrenia, the agency said Tuesday in a news release.

Antipsychotic

An antipsychotic (or neuroleptic) is a tranquilizing psychiatric medication primarily used to manage psychosis (including delusions or hallucinations, as well as disordered thought), particularly in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A first generation of antipsychotics, known as typical antipsychotics, was discovered in the 1950s. Most of the drugs in the second generation, known as atypical antipsychotics, have been developed more recently, although the first atypical antipsychotic, clozapine, was discovered in the 1950s and introduced clinically in the 1970s. Both generations of medication tend to block receptors in the brain's dopamine pathways, but antipsychotic drugs encompass a wide range of receptor targets.

A number of harmful and undesired (adverse) effects have been observed, including lowered life expectancy, weight gain, decrease in brain volume, enlarged breasts and milk discharge in men and women (hyperprolactinaemia), lowered white blood cell count (agranulocytosis), involuntary repetitive body movements (tardive dyskinesia), diabetes, an inability to sit still or remain motionless (akathisia), sexual dysfunction, a return of psychosis requiring increasing the dosage due to cells producing more neurochemicals to compensate for the drugs (tardive psychosis), and a potential for permanent chemical dependence leading to psychosis much worse than before treatment began, if the drug dosage is ever lowered or stopped (tardive dysphrenia).[citation needed]

Temporary withdrawal symptoms including insomnia, agitation, psychosis, and motor disorders may occur during dosage reduction of antipsychotics, and can be mistaken for a return of the underlying condition.

The development of new antipsychotics with fewer of these adverse effects and with greater relative effectiveness as compared to existing antipsychotics (efficacy), is an ongoing field of research.